illustrations/designs

Included are two dozen samples of my illustrations and designs from over the years. Even though I can produce photoshop illustrations, I've found designs, sketches and specs to be more user-friendly in Illustrator and the vector files to be more exact and easily changed. 

graphic design

One of the strengths I bring to every project is my graphic design background.  I like to create new logos, taglines, ad campaigns and image pieces to help support my footwear projects.  

skechers function

I saw a niche for Skechers, light-weight boots and envisioned this product line nestled between the Work utility and USA casual footwear categories.  At the time, boots were made with 6mm thick outsoles and built to outlast the guy that wore them.  

Our team created a line called Function. We were developing EVA and rubber compounds for ultra-light outsoles.  Also included was Ventilator breathability for everyday wear. I surrounded the line with an image that included a poster, ad campaign, logos & tag lines and finally, a mocked-up box. Let's make the lightest boots on the market! Designs can be seen in the Gallery.

nike portfolio 2001

It was always my aspiration to work for Nike, a friend from Skechers, D'wayne Edwards, landed a job there in the Jordan division.  I thought I too could get to Nike being employed by Skechers. A total of 8 months were spent on my portfolio (above).  I needed to learn Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator to do so. My portfolio and referral wasn't good enough for an interview, only an opportunity to work on a project was offered. The following is the letter sent to me from Nike: 

Thanks for your interest in Nike's Footwear Design Group. To give us a better idea of how you would apply your experience to our challenges here at Nike, we'd like for you to show us how you would approach a hypothetical project.  This will give you and idea of the kind of challenges we face as well as give us a chance to see how you think.  The following is the written brief I received:

Show us what kind of footwear resonates with NIke consumers from the age of 12-18 in December 2005 (it was 2001). You pick the kid and what he or she is into.  You can be general or specific. The choice is yours.

The letter concludes with: We want to see how you look at the market and conceptualize product against your analysis. What you show and how you show it is up to you.  Thanks and we look forward to seeing your work (there's a picture of a Nike Shox running shoe at the bottom of the letter). 

My project solution is shown above.  The concept was interchangeable cleat plates, I called X-plate Technology that would allow the parent to buy one pair of cleats and allow the athlete to customize their cleat spikes for all conditions, i.e. Bowerman Astro-Grabber plates for turf or hard fields up to Monsoon plates for rain & muddy conditions (there were a total of 4 X-plates). The second idea included in this project was an upper technology called Armor. Armor was a lightweight compound that could bond to textiles to engineer flex and support where you need it through structural shapes and material thicknesses.  Basically, the idea for no sew in 2001. My portfolio was based on the Olympic rings and had the following themes: Play, my background, Two-3, Jordan fashion line, Jordan, September 11th 2001 "The Jordan Phoenix Fund" shoe, ACG, designs for all altitudes, and finally, Goddess, a wellness line of footwear for women.